"Lift

God, therefore, by his prophet, seems to say, up your eyes look around: behold the starry heavens they shall "vanish like smoke:" they shall

wax old as doth a garment:" they shall be folded together, and thrown aside, as a worn-out vesture. But "my righteousness shall remain for ever: my salvation shall never be abolished." Every thing which you see shall pass away: but my sealing shall never be destroyed."

A theatre may charm the eye with the variety of its scenes; and, for the moment, a man may imagine himself on enchanted ground: but, if he feels that he has in his possession the earnest of some inheritance, on which he builds his hope and expectation for future life; if he has a pledge about him, however small, that such and such an estate is purchased for him and conveyed to him; by that earnest he recollects himself, and says, "These are pretty things--pleasing to the eye: but—but—they are not like my pledge! they are things that have a glare, and seem to suit the senses for a moment or two; but they are not the solid property of which I am possessed. When gone by, therefore, I care not about them: the pledge, the earnest, is all my felicity!"

That you and I may feel thus towards our heavenly inheritance, and enjoy it in prospect in time, and in possession through eternity, may God grant for Jesus Christ's sake!

SERMON XXVI.

ON CHASTISEMENT.

HEBREWS, xii. 5, 6.

Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

AMONG the variety of subjects, on which a minister is called to treat, many may suit particular cases; but when he speaks of affliction, he speaks of that which is sure to interest every one, at one period or other of their lives. When affliction comes, they will, perhaps, remember what has been said with reference to their case; for "man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward."

But it appears from the passage before us, that persons are perplexed in their afflictions, chiefly because they "forget the exhortation which speaketh unto them as unto children." To Christians, more particularly, these words are addressed: God, treating them as his children, calls on them not to "despise the chastening of the Lord, nor to faint when they are rebuked;" and that, because it is his common method of proceeding-the dispensation of the Christian-that, "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth; and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.'

From the words of the text, without having any respect to the particular case of the Hebrew converts to whom they were addressed, we shall consider,

1. That it is the high privilege of a Christian, that his afflictions, whatever they may be, are but the discipline of a father.

2. The two dangerous extremes concerning which we are admonished in the text, and into which men are apt to fall under this parental chastisement: "My son, despise thou not: and, My son, faint not under it."

I. We are to consider the high PRIVILEGE of a Christian that his afflictions are but the discipline of a father.

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The Apostle here states the common case of Christians. Every one of them is brought into the privilege of the sons of God and treated as such. "If ye are Christ's," says the Apostle, "then are ye Abraham's seed. To as many as received him, to them gave he the privilege to become the sons of God." They are spoken of as having been chosen of old, received into the family of heaven, and treated as children sent to school, under education preparing for glory. They may be, for a time, under great trials. They may be tried as the widow was by the unjust judge, when she came to be avenged of her adversary: "Hear," said our Lord, "what the unjust judge saith: Lest this woman trouble me by her continual coming, I will avenge her: and shall not God avenge his own elect, that cry day and night unto him?"

Fatherly chastisement, therefore, is inseparably connected with the adoption of children, and the love that God bears to them. If then a Christian should say, "Why am I thus? and why do such afflictions thus surround me ?"—the answer is evident: Because you have a father, and because it is his method: "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth: If ye endure

chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But, if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." You have then no evidence that you are under education: you have no evidence that God is leading you by that narrow path, pointed out by himself, suited to your case and condition; by which you will not only arrive at glory, but be made "meet for the inheritance of the saints in light."

Not a day passes over our heads, but we have an illustration of this case in our own families. Have we children? Why do we put them under taskmasters and tutors? Why?—that their minds may be trained to patience and submission. Do we treat our servants thus?

A Christian may, under a sense of his high privilege and his high calling, walk gratefully as it becometh one of the sons of God: yet there are cases and circumstances in which even such men as David, Hezekiah, and Peter experience that it is good to have fear as well as love in exercise; and that when love fails, it is good to have fear kept alive in the heart, and to have an experience of the affliction, and misery, and pain that sin occasions, and that it is an evil thing and bitter to depart from the living God.

Does a man argue, "I am a son; but I know not trouble?" I will say to such an one, "Stay a little: perhaps it is at the door: and it will be well if you do not faint, under what you have soon to meet with. The Apostle tells us, that all the children of God are partakers of this dispensation."

Does another say, "I am so chastised, the rod is so heavy on my back that I fear I am not a son ?" This

man forgets "the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children;" for this dispensation of suffering is rather a mark that you are a child: it is God's constant method: "for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?"-"Wherefore," says the Apostle, "lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed."

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But," say you, "I am more distressed, because a good man is the cause of my suffering." Here you dwell on the instrument! Here you forget "the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children!” The scourge may consist of various cords; and any instrument will serve God's purpose when he chooses to employ it. Be thankful, therefore, that God will teach, and correct, and chastise you; and that, by any means which may have a tendency to bring you nearer to himself.

What have any of us learnt to purpose, but in this way? so that we have had reason to say, with David, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted: before I was afflicted I went astray:' I had 'forgotten the exhortation, which speaketh unto me as unto a child;' but afterward I perceived the peaceable fruits of righteousness arise from my trouble. I perceived the necessity of that education, which I thought trying and severe."

Lord Bacon remarks, that, however temporal prosperity might be promised to the Church under the old dispensation, affliction, and suffering, and trial, are the promises made to the Church under the new.

We see, therefore, that it is one of the privileges